Last night I had several different events/meetings to attend. Because, I don’t have employees. I had to put a sign on the front door, announcing that I was closing early for a meeting. Life in a small town. You can do this once in awhile. I do have a few artists that help me out quite often.
My first meeting was a group called “One Hundred Women“. Last night was my first meeting. They meet for one hour quarterly. The goal is to select a non profit who presents that night and make a donation to them, that night. The last recipient draws out of a box choosing three individuals who will talk for ten minutes about their organization’s needs. Then we vote, paper ballot. They are counted. The women who organized this group planned a well run hour. During the counting, the previous recipient presented how they spent the money received. All in all, I was impressed. I love the idea of a group of now 300 women donating $30,000 quarterly to a local group needing help.
I moved onto an opening at The Fire Barn Gallery. Tyler Loftis had created an exhibit of his paintings. I had a great time visiting with many friends. One artist asked how I was doing in the gallery. I said great! She asked again how I felt about managing a business and trying to be an artist. She looked me hard in the eyes, wanting the “real” answer. I told her that I like to keep a lot of balls in the air. This is true. I get bored easily. I changed the subject to her upcoming exhibit at the Gallery Uptown next month. I told her that C2C Gallery had an opening the same night and would try to stop in later in the week. Several other C2C Gallery customers were at the Fire Barn who said that I missed a Chamber event earlier in the evening. For being a small town, I have a hard time keeping up with the events. So, even though Grand Haven is small, we have lots of things to do.
Heading home, I circled around to where I began the evening, thinking about my own clay work. How to be creative and stay organized at C2C? It is a dance. One that some weeks, I manage quite gracefully. Other days, I am clumsy. The goal is to always have C2C looking put together, well conceived, pleasant to visit, and to sell art.
So, how to be creative on a daily basis………….